Juan Jorge Junco Hortelano

He was a prominent Cuban clarinetist who taught with the excellence of a true master, that is, one who gives all his secrets to his disciples, with the sole aim that they become better than him.

He was born in Cienfuegos. His musical education began at age eight, studying music theory, solfège, and clarinet with his uncle Abelardo Junco. He also studied with maestro Pedro Graces. In 1924 he joined the Banda de Exploradores de Cienfuegos, of which he became a soloist a year later.

He subsequently played in popular orchestras. The trajectory of this woodwind musician is impressive, as few Cuban artists in the musical landscape have participated in events of such significance in our historical development.

In 1929 he was a soloist with the Banda Municipal de Cienfuegos.

In 1933 he moved to La Habana and became part of various capital orchestras, as principal clarinet, including the Philharmonic.

From 1960 onwards he became a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra. In 1971 he founded the group Nuestro Tiempo, conducted by Maestro Manuel Duechesne Cuzán.

He also worked continuously as a professor. For his more than thirty years of musical work he received the Distinction for National Culture.

And speaking of his students, Juan Jorge Junco was a professor who taught at important institutions such as the Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán, the Escuela Nacional de Arte, and the Instituto Superior de Arte. But he, not satisfied with that, would improvise any classroom, whether in the hallways of the Teatro Auditórium Amadeo Roldán. Juan Piñera recalls that:
"having heard him give advice to a young musician, in the nearby parque Villalón, adjacent to the Coliseo de Calzada y D. That's how insatiable his need to be a teacher was!

We have spoken of the professor, and not of the performer, and in this latter capacity it must be said that possibly Juan Jorge Junco was the greatest clarinetist ever born in Cuba.

And this is very easy to corroborate. Let us listen to his recordings of Mozart, Brahms, Guastavino or perhaps those of some of his short pieces for clarinet that he also wrote for the enjoyment of himself and his students.

Of Juan Jorge Junco we cannot forget his interpretive imprint within avant-garde music. He was a founding member of the Conjunto Instrumental Nuestro Tiempo, created by maestro Manuel Duchesne Cuzán, who, together with this clarinetist, were the principal performers of a musical movement that challenged interpretive concepts in the last decades of the past century.

In other words, Junco was interested in the new compositional techniques of contemporary music, which brought with them new forms of interpretation, techniques, and above all, information that this musician could not overlook.

Events in which he participated

He had the privilege of being one of the members of the legendary Orquesta Filarmónica de La Habana, achieving in this orchestral institution the status of soloist and first clarinet.

Many of the great orchestra conductors and virtuosos of their respective instruments who were accompanied by this historic ensemble appreciated the performance of this stand musician, one of them being Amadeo Roldán.

We are thus before a man who participated in a significant event in the history of our culture.

However, the relevant actions of Juan Jorge Junco do not remain only in this isolated fact. There is much to speak of regarding this maestro.

He was a founder of the current Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba, together with maestros Enrique González Mantici and Manuel Duchesne Cuzán.

In it he maintained his status as soloist and first clarinet, as in the former Filarmónica de La Habana. He worked with full commitment to his colleagues, and above all, as a guide to his many disciples, who saw in him a true artist.

Finally, Juan Jorge Junco is the nourishing trunk of an important family of Cuban musicians. He, in turn, was a continuation of a family tradition and an essential link for the emergence of a notable Cuban pedagogue and pianist, his daughter, Teresita Junco, mother of Ilmar and Aldo López-Gavilán Junco, who, nowadays, are two virtuosos of their respective instruments, violin and piano.

But Juan Jorge Junco is the forger of another great family, that of Cuban clarinetists, in particular, and that of all performers of the Island, in general, since his example must remain forever kept in the collective memory of our culture. He received the National Prize for Artistic Teaching in the year 2000.